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Getting qualified leads is often not easy in the insurance industry. There are ranges of techniques for getting people to give you their contact information—while prequalifying themselves as interested in and ready to buy the type of insurance you sell. But the process of building a lucrative list from scratch can be difficult, and companies selling lists of instant leads can be very tempting. Here’s a look at things you should consider when deciding whether to buy a list for lead generation.

These lists are not qualified leads. They haven’t demonstrated an interest in your insurance products. True, if this is a business insurance list, they might hold positions in their companies that are responsible for insurance-related decisions; that doesn’t mean that they’re looking for new coverage. Some of these names may be worth a shot, but it’s the same as blindly passing out your business card at a networking event and hoping someone bites.

A high-potential lead is a person who has interacted with your brand in some way—downloaded an article or report of yours, for example; or perhaps contacted you before about the insurance you sell. They’ve made contact with you or opted in in some way—it’s an important difference.

You could hurt your reputation. If you start emailing people without giving them a chance to opt in—or without even introducing yourself first—things could get ugly. Your emails are more likely to get stuck in spam filters, which reduces your sender score and makes it more difficult for your domain to make contact in the future. Unsolicited emails are frequently against the law, according to the 2003 CAN-SPAM Act.

Those leads don’t convert well. Lists of cold leads have lower conversion rates than warm leads—those who know you and have demonstrated interest or interacted with you before. The reason is simple—they don’t know you, and dozens of emails asking for money probably show up in their inboxes every day. You’ll have to spend some time both educating these prospects on what you sell, and persuading them towards the sale itself. You’ll do much better with leads who already know what you sell and have demonstrated interest.

You might get better results without the hard sell. You could get great results with, for example, a direct mail campaign targeting people within a certain demographic with an offer for the insurance you sell. But you’ll probably do better if you use the list as a starting point to engage these contacts—and turn them into qualified leads. Instead of sending a hard-sell package right away, offer something—a guide to the insurance you sell, for example—and ask them to contact you for it. Those who do are your real leads.

You should time it correctly. Got a list of people who just bought a new house? They may need homeowners’ insurance. You get the idea—for many different types of insurance products, your list will be more useful if it’s tied to the timing of certain events. Evaluate the type of insurance you sell to see if there are specific events that are relevant to purchase—and look for a list-building company that can give you names that fall within that timing.

Buying a list of leads doesn’t technically save you time. It’s not always a bad idea, and it’s something many companies try at least once. But you’ll still need to put the time in to build an effective outreach campaign, nurture that list, and give the leads opportunities to qualify themselves. If you do, you’re more likely to get your money’s worth.